Orthodontic brackets are obtainable on the market in a very large variety. Today, brackets are manufactured from metal, ceramic and plastic. All these materials require a relatively thick base plate, on which the wire arch lies and which comprises lateral walls forming the so-called slot. With the exception of plastic, these materials have certain a brittleness, and too thin a base plate would significantly affect the strength of the bracket. With the manufacture from plastic, it is not so much the brittleness of the material which is a problem, but rather its elasticity. This elasticity very quickly leads to deformations of the bracket, and this leads to an imprecise guidance of the wire arch in the slot or practically completely blocks the movement of this wire arch in the slot.
These problems have led to orthodontic brackets even today having a relative large construction height, specifically a height of at least 1.5 mm.
It would also be desirable to design the surfaced extension of the bracket or the length of the guidance of the wire as small as possible. It is particularly in the frontal, lower region that the size of the teeth is very small, depending on set of teeth. Most brackets which are available on the market have a slot, whose length is approx. 3 mm. Here too, a reduction of the size is practically impossible with regard to the design of the bracket. This however leads to the space between two adjacent brackets being small. However, in the case that this distance is too small, then only a low deformation possibility of the wire arch exists in practise, in order to be able to carry out the suitable corrective movements.
A further problem with the orthodontic brackets which have been known until now, irrespective of the material selection, lies in the fact that the flaps which secure the wire arch must be realised via a hinge with a corresponding hinge pivot. This cannot be realised with a single, simple manufacturing procedure, but requires a corresponding assembly demanding much effort due to the small size of the brackets. The person carrying out the treatment moreover can only exchange the flaps in the case of few brackets.
The smaller the orthodontic brackets and the more complex the self-ligating mechanics, the greater is the danger of excess cement (adhesive) rendering them functionally unusable. Although smaller brackets are more advantageous with regard to the positioning, since problem zones of a tooth can be better utilised and the bracket therefore also be optimally placed thanks to the small size, this however is at the cost of the exact alignment becoming more demanding, errors becoming more frequent and with these, the fine adjustment requiring significantly more effort at the end of the treatment.
The inventor has already disclosed suitable means which simplify the application of adhesive onto the bracket and the positioning of the bracket on the tooth, in EP 1 482 857. For this, a protector has already been suggested there, and this protector has an equal and opposite hollow shape, in which the bracket to be placed and to be provided with adhesive can be inserted, as well as an applicator which non-positively and possibly holds itself in the bracket and can be removed again after the alignment on the tooth and the hardening/curing of the adhesive or cement. The particularly flat brackets according to the invention can also be simply handled with these aids which are known per se.